spinach

spinach (Spinacia oleracea), Spinach (Spinacia oleracea).Rasbakhardy, leafy annual of the goosefoot family (Chenopodiaceae), used as a vegetable. The edible leaves are arranged in a rosette, from which a seedstalk emerges. The leaves are somewhat triangular and may be flat or puckered. Spinach requires cool weather and deep, rich, well-limed soil to give quick growth and maximum leaf area. Seed can be sown every two weeks from early spring to late summer, in rows 30 cm (12 inches) apart, the plantlets being thinned in the row. The last sowings produce young plants that yield a crop in the autumn and stand over the winter, providing leaves in early spring or even through the winter if the weather is not too severe.